Small Gryffindor Items

My dear daughter and I made some little Gryffindor items for a recent HP swap on Craftster.

Mug cozy, crochet flower brooches, tea cup mini pin cushion:




Two crochet flower brooches in Gryffindor colors:



My dear daughter used cotton yarn to make these lovely brooches for me to send to my "Gryffindor" partner. I also used them as an embellishment for the Gryffindor scarf presentation.


Backs of flower brooches:




Both the brooches have lovely vintage buttons:





The buttons are sewn on with the cotton yarn in the contrast color.

I ordered the cotton yarn from Patternworks at the same time that I ordered the acrylic for the scarf. (Summer is not the greatest time to be looking in local shops for autumn colors, so I ordered online and hoped the colors would be "right".) I didn't know when I ordered the cotton what we would make with it, but I'm really pleased with the summery brooches that the DD made with it.


Gryffindor Mug Cozy:



I knit up this mug cozy as an "extra". It took maybe 20 minutes, tops. I used the same red acrylic as I used for the Gryffindor scarf. It also has a vintage button.


The mug cozy, open:



It's knit in a k1-p1 rib, with a crochet border and crocheted tapered ends. The tapered ends help it fit through the mug handle.


The mug cozy, on a mug:




The tea cup mini pin cushion will have it's own post, coming soon!


Craft Info:

Made for: rosesanplacebos
Swap: "I Miss Harry Potter Swap"
Date made: Early July, 2008

Mug Cozy

Needles: size 8 bamboo
Hook: G
Yarn: Utopia worsted-weight acrylic
Color: Pomegranate
Other materials: Vintage button (yellow-gold color)

Brooches

Made by: beauootifulsooooup (DD)
Hook: F
Yarn: Reynolds Saucy cabled worsted-weight cotton
Colors: Cranberry and Butter
Other materials: Vintage buttons (maroon and yellow), brooch pins, thread to sew on brooch pins

Making the Gryffindor Scarf: The S.P.E.W. Tote

I have had a lot of fun participating in the two Craftster HP swaps I've done so far. I have also received some cool stuff! While crafting for the most recent swap, I loved having a HP project tote to use for my HP swap project: the wonderful S.P.E.W. tote that ShardaeDobby made for me in my first swap was my project bag for the Gryffindor scarf I made for rosesanplacebos in the next swap!

S.P.E.W. Tote with Gryffindor Scarf WIP:








Because I love this bag so much, I carry it everywhere. So I've made it my own by adding pin-back buttons!

Craftster Buttons on the front of the S.P.E.W. tote:

Crafty Like Ice Is Cold:


Well, yes. ;-)


Craftster Pirate Pin:


Knit fast, die warm! Arrrgh!


Political buttons on the back of the S.P.E.W. tote:




"Obama '08" and "Women for Obama":


I agree with Norman Solomon on this issue: "The best way to avoid becoming disillusioned is to not have illusions in the first place."


"Freedom Is Participation In Power" and "Ignore Your Rights & They'll Go Away":


I added these to the bag very recently. I've had them for years, but they've been just collecting dust for a while. I decided that if I'm going to keep using the Obama buttons -- and I am -- these need to come back out and play as well. (FISA, anyone?)


American Flag Peace Symbol:


This is the button that is most visible when the bag is on my shoulder: it is positioned so it sits to the front when the bag is worn. This is also one of my earliest political buttons. I bought it way back in 2001 when -- suddenly, tragically -- the peace symbol was obscure and old-fashioned no longer. I chose the one with the flag because peace is patriotic, of course.

Gryffindor Scarf: POA (Trapped Bar) Style

I knit a Gryffindor scarf for my lovely partner, rosesanplacebos, in the recent "I Miss Harry Potter Swap".

The scarf, tied with a ribbon for presentation:




I used the atypically.knit pattern to make this scarf, with some modifications, such as making the fringe a bit longer than the pattern calls for. I also used larger needles and cast on fewer stitches to get the width.

The scarf with fringe, and small Gryffindor items:



The little Gryffindor items were "extras" for the swap: crochet flower brooches made by my DD and a knit mug cozy made with the scarf's MC yarn.

I made the scarf's fringe about six inches, the same as the length of the large MC stripe. The atypically.knit pattern calls for a fringe of about four inches, but I think the longer length is a bit more feminine. Rosesanplacebos encouraged me to use creative license on this scarf (and believe me, before making an item of this scale, I ask a ton of questions!), so this is what I did with the fringe. If I were making this scarf for a guy, I would probably use the fringe length from the pattern.

The scarf, laid out:



It's about 8.5 feet long and about 8 inches wide.

Because it is knit in the round, the scarf is a long tube. Here are some shots of the edge of the scarf (the scarf is folded in half, then rolled up).

The scarf, rolled up:






Rosesanplacebos posted a lovely action shot here in the swap gallery!

Craft Info:

Made for: rosesanplacebos
Swap: "I Miss Harry Potter Swap"
Date: Mid June - Early July, 2008
Pattern: atypically.knit pattern, with modifications: larger needles (size 10), co 72 stitches, made fringe about 6" long (same as length of large MC stripe)
Needles: size 10 bamboo 16" circular
Yarn: Utopia worsted-weight acrylic, Pomegranate (MC) and Maize (CC)
Dimensions: About 8.5 feet long, 8 inches wide


Other posts about this scarf:

My post at Craftster:

• Gryffindor Scarf! POA (trapped bar) style

Rosesanplacebos's posts at Craftster:

• post with action shot of the scarf
• gallery post of the whole package

HP Craft Swap at Craftster: Summary Post

June and the beginning of July was Harry Potter crafting! The "I Miss Harry Potter Swap" at Craftster was lots of fun. My lovely partner, rosesanplacebos, had lots of green items on her wists, so I made her a fun HP shopping tote set:



And some other stuff!

The whole swap package:




More posts to come detailing all the crafts, and other info from the swap!

Swap Info:

Swap: "I Miss Harry Potter Swap" at Craftster
Swap Gallery: "I Miss Harry Potter Swap Gallery"
Crafting Dates: June 2 - July 10, 2008
Date Sent: July 10, 2008


Posted at Craftster: (this section will be updated with links as posts are made on Craftster)

rosesanplacebos's posts (the crafts I made, that she received):

• post with action shot of the scarf
• gallery post of the whole package

My posts:

• Gryffindor Scarf! POA (trapped bar) style

Ravenclaw House Scarf, Color Fade Wrist Warmers and Flower Brooch

I made a house scarf for my swap partner in the recent HP craft swap at Craftster. Her favorite house is Ravenclaw, and she prefers book colors. I used the atypically.knit pattern and knit it in the round on bamboo needles.

Ravenclaw House Scarf:



After twenty-one times twenty-two rows, one color and then the next, (and enduring well-intentioned compliments like "Oh, I could never do that! I would want to change colors all the time!") I was ready to either pull my hair out, or knit something fun and quick!

I designed the wrist warmer's color fade as a sanity saver while knitting the scarf. They were an add-on to the swap, but I had to make them.

Ravenclaw Color Fade Wrist Warmers:



The wrist warmers were knit flat on circular needles and then seamed, leaving a hole for the thumb. Using circular needles allowed changing colors each row as needed.

Ravenclaw House Scarf and Color Fade Wrist Warmers:



I noticed only after sending the swap package that the scarf is backwards in this photo: that's the back of the fringe knots. The top photo shows the front.

DD made the crochet flower brooch in the top photo. It's made of wool yarn and felted. The center is a vintage wood and metal button. She also very kindly modeled the items for photos before I sent out the swap package.

Craft Info:

Swap: "Because We Miss Harry Potter" Swap at Craftster
Swap Partner: ShardaeDobby at Craftster

Ravenclaw House Scarf

Date made: March 1-25 2008
Pattern: atypically.knit Hogwarts scarf pattern
Yarn: Lion Brand "Vanna's Choice" acrylic
Colors: Colonial Blue, Honey
Needles: Size 10 bamboo circular needles

Ravenclaw Color Fade Wrist Warmers

Date made: March 25-31 2008
Yarn: Lion Brand "Vanna's Choice" acrylic
Colors: Colonial Blue, Honey
Needles: Size 10 bamboo circular needles (knit flat)

Ravenclaw House Colors Flower Brooch

Made by: DD
Date made: March 2008
Yarn: Worsted weight wool
Color: Blue
Hook: G
Other Materials: Wood and metal vintage button, brooch clasp


Posted at Craftster:
Ravenclaw Scarf, Wrist Warmers and Flower Brooch

HP Craft Swap at Craftster: The Crafts I Sent

These are all the goodies I sent to my swap partner in the recent HP craft swap at Craftster:

• Ravenclaw house scarf
• Ravenclaw colors wrist warmers
• Ravenclaw colors brooch
• Record purse with Weird Sisters albums
  
• "Every Flavour" pouch
• Every Flavour beans inspired shopping tote
• Crochet lollipops
• Luna-esque flower brooch and matching earrings
• House colors perler beads coasters

DD designed and crafted the brooches, and DS designed and crafted the coasters. The whole family was very supportive of this swap, and it was a lot of fun.


At Craftster:

• "Because We Miss Harry Potter" Swap
  
• "Because We Miss Harry Potter" Gallery
  
• My swap partner's post with her pictures of these crafts
• My post of the crafts I received
  

Small Brown and Pink Drawstring Purse

I made a purse for my daughter and sent it in a care package when she was at summer camp last year.



The drawstring handle/strap can be worn two ways.

As a long strap:



Or as two medium-length handles (shown here with the bag open, in the first photo with the bag closed):



I also made a little pouch from the pink contrast yarn:



Craft Info:
Date made: June 2007
Yarn: Worsted weight cotton, brown and variegated pink
Needles: Size 10 bamboo circular needles

Posted at Craftster:
First Project Post -- Cotton Drawstring Purse